Buried Optical Structure in Head-Mounted Spectacle Lenses
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need to produce spectacle lenses for display devices that can be placed on a user's head, which generate images as virtual images, in large quantities with high precision, while maintaining a buried optically effective structure.
Innovation Solution
The method involves producing the spectacle lens using two dimensionally stable shells with curved top and bottom surfaces, where one shell is formed with a structured section that is filled with the same material, and an adhesive layer is applied to create a continuous surface, allowing for an optically effective structure to be embedded within, using specific polymer materials and processes like injection molding and optical coatings to achieve high precision and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional manufacturing methods are used, then production capacity is limited, but manufacturing precision and quality consistency deteriorate when scaling up
Solution Approach 1:
The spectacle lens is divided into multiple shells (first shell, second shell, third shell) that are manufactured separately and then assembled. This segmentation allows each shell to be produced using standardized injection molding processes, enabling high-volume production while maintaining consistent quality through automated manufacturing of individual components.
Solution Approach 2:
The optically effective structure is pre-formed as an integrated part of the first shell during its injection molding process, before assembly with other shells. This preliminary formation ensures precise optical properties are achieved in the molded component itself, reducing the need for post-assembly adjustments and maintaining quality consistency during scaling.
2Reliability
If optically effective structures are embedded in spectacle lenses, then optical functionality is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The optically effective structure is merged with the first shell as an integrated component, where the structured section forms an inherent part of the shell's geometry. This merging eliminates the need for separate manufacturing and assembly steps for the optical structure, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while ensuring reliable optical performance through precise molding.
Solution Approach 2:
The optically effective structure is nested within the first shell, with the structured section embedded in the shell body. This nesting approach allows the optical functionality to be contained within the structural component, simplifying the overall device architecture by combining multiple functions (structural support and optical effect) into a single integrated element.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple shells are used to embed optically effective structures, then manufacturing precision is improved, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The optically effective structure is preliminarily formed as an integrated feature of the first shell during its injection molding process. This preliminary action ensures high manufacturing precision is achieved in the molded component itself, eliminating the need for time-consuming post-assembly operations while maintaining accurate optical properties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes injection molding parameters (temperature, pressure, material flow) to directly form the optically effective structure within the shell during manufacturing. By changing and optimizing these process parameters, the complex embedded structure is created in a single high-precision molding step, avoiding time-consuming sequential operations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method enables the production of spectacle lenses with high precision and quality in large quantities, ensuring the optically effective structure is fully embedded and provides the desired optical functionality, such as reflection and imaging, while minimizing material wastage and maintaining optical coherence across the lens.
Implementation Method 1
an adhesive layer is applied to create a continuous surface
Implementation Method 2
the imaging optics can image the generated image when the display device is placed on the user's head in such a way that the user can perceive it as a virtual image
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for producing an optical element, which is transparent in a predetermined wavelength range and into which an optically effective structure has been embedded, is provided, said method comprising the following steps: a) providing a first shell which is transparent in the predetermined wavelength range, which shell has an integral embodiment and a structured portion at the upper side thereof, b) applying a coating which is optically effective for the predetermined wavelength range onto the structured portion in order to form the optically effective structure, c) providing a second shell which is transparent in the predetermined wavelength range, which shell has an integral embodiment and a smooth lower side which has a complementary form to the form of the upper side, d) applying an adhesive layer which is transparent in the predetermined wavelength range onto the upper side of the first shell and/or the lower side of the second shell, and e) connecting the upper side of the first shell with the lower side of the second shell by means of the adhesive layer such that a two-shell optical element is produced, in which the optically effective structure is buried.